Hog confinement buildings typically house hundreds of animals which produce a substantial volume of urine and manure waste. The urine and manure waste material in the reservoir produces noxious gases, including hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and methane. Methane is highly flammable. The buildings normally have a slatted floor through which these waste materials fall into a pit or reservoir, and must periodically be removed before the pit fills to capacity. Some hog confinement buildings include pump out pits spaced along the foundation wall and communicating through spaced openings in the foundation wall with the interior manure pit. Pumps can be provided or lowered into the pits to remove manure and keep the level of manure in the primary pit at a desired level.
During pit pumping, agitation of the waste material releases hydrogen sulfide, which may kill the pigs if concentration levels rise too high. Fans are provided for the confinement building and/or on the pump out pits to expel air. However, these fans typically pull air from an area immediately below the slatted floor of the building which may create turbulence and cause noxious gases and fumes to rise upwardly through the slatted floor, which is unhealthy and potentially deadly to the pigs in the confinement building. Also, pumping sometimes creates pit foaming, which causes methane bubbles to be released, which further contaminates the building air.
Some farmers tend to over ventilate their barns. In the winter, excess air removal and replacement with fresh outside air requires more heating, which necessarily requires more costs to the farmer. In the summer, excess air removal and replacement with fresh, hot outside air requires more cooling, and thus more costs to the farmer.
Therefore, a primary objective of the present invention is a provision of an improved ventilation system for hog confinement buildings which avoids the problems of the prior art.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of a ventilation system for hog confinement buildings which provides an air conduit for expulsion of non-fresh air by ventilation fans.
A further objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved ventilation system for hog confinement buildings which removes the lowest quality air from the manure pit.
Still another objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved ventilation system for hog confinement buildings which expels noxious gases with a minimum of turbulence.
Yet another objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved ventilation system for a hog confinement building having a sliding gate which floats on the manure surface to allow air to be pulled from adjacent the manure surface for expulsion by a fan.
Still another objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved ventilation system for hog confinement buildings which can be utilized with pump out pit fans, roof mounted fans, or other conventional ventilation fans.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved ventilation system for hog confinement buildings which can be retrofit to existing buildings or installed as original equipment.
A further objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved ventilation system for hog confinement buildings which is economical to manufacture and which is safe and durable in use.
These and other objectives will become apparent from the following description of the invention.